This week, Alex & Nik are the only two members of the podcast brave enough & committed enough to get together and discuss United's 2nd defeat in succession, a whopping 3-0 loss to Spurs.

We discuss Nik's status as a 'top red', what the result means for Mourinho, how his approach differed to usual and pull at other negative threads. We do however find time to lavish praise on the mighty Luke Shaw for what was a fantastic performance.

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Patreon
We have also started a Patreon as of today. Unsure how this will go down and we are of course appreciate of all listens, feedbacks & comments in the thread, but for anyone who do wish to help cover our costs and keep the podcast going then we of course would appreciate all & every bit of help. If you have any thoughts or questions on the tiers then please do ask away.

Patreon
We have also started a Patreon as of today. Unsure how this will go down and we are of course appreciate of all listens, feedbacks & comments in the thread, but for anyone who do wish to help cover our costs and keep the podcast going then we of course would appreciate all & every bit of help. If you have any thoughts or questions on the tiers then please do ask away.

Just to expand on this - we are not just looking for some beer money here (although that may improve my performance on the podcast), primarily we are just looking to cover the costs of putting out the podcast.
Since the podcast started it has grown every year but that means costs for bandwidth and storage have also gone up and this summer we decided to stop hosting on Soundcloud as a result of rising costs - we took the decision to accept some advertising cash last year to help offset the costs but ideally we would like to avoid that.

We have no idea if listeners will be willing to support us in this way but thought it was worth a go - if it doesnt work we will have to find some other betting company to throw us a few quid instead and if any of you remember the advert that @Duafc and @Schmiznurf recorded last season then you will know we need to avoid this at all costs!

If you have any comments about the tiers etc or anything you would like to hear more/less of on the show then let us know.

I definitely should have been on this one.... I think i'd have argued almost everything!

Anyway, I really don't think that Lukaku scoring that chance would have led to us winning.

With our defence as it is, I really don't think it would have stood up well to any form of sustained Spurs pressure... so yes we might have taken the lead, but Spurs could easily have come back into the game.

Even if we took our 1-0 lead and put 10-men behind the ball and just went all out defence... our dire defending from set-pieces means Spurs could have still got a goal.

Also, If we're lauding Mourhino for going for this high-energy/high-press style in the first half - shouldn't we question why he'd select Matic? A man who clearly wasn't up to match fitness at all and couldn't keep up with the pace.... it just doesn't equal very joined up thinking.

I definitely should have been on this one.... I think i'd have argued almost everything!

Anyway, I really don't think that Lukaku scoring that chance would have led to us winning.

With our defence as it is, I really don't think it would have stood up well to any form of sustained Spurs pressure... so yes we might have taken the lead, but Spurs could easily have come back into the game.

Even if we took our 1-0 lead and put 10-men behind the ball and just went all out defence... our dire defending from set-pieces means Spurs could have still got a goal.

Also, If we're lauding Mourhino for going for this high-energy/high-press style in the first half - shouldn't we question why he'd select Matic? A man who clearly wasn't up to match fitness at all and couldn't keep up with the pace.... it just doesn't equal very joined up thinking.

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On the Lukaku point - who knows? It's easy to say either way really, but you can't deny that it could have been a pivotal moment and would have had an impact.

I think we were reserved in praise for Mourinho on the high energy game. In all honesty, I am just more forgiving of the loss because of it, rather than particularly pleased or impressed. Ultimately he needs to be doing it every/most games for the praise, and he needs to do it an a manner that doesn't result in a defeat.

Thought this was a fair episode and I agreed with most of what you said.

I slightly disagree with the idea that this was new for Mourinho. We press in select games. For example, at the Emirates last year we pressed high early on got two goals and then sat off and defended the lead.

In many ways Monday's match was a lot like the games we had in 2016/17. It may seem like ancient history for a lot of people but that season we had plenty of games where we had 20 something shots and went goaless. Was it Burnley (H) that season, the game where Ander got sent off and Zlatan had the bicycle kick saved, where we actually had more shots than anyone in recorded Premier League history and still drew 0-0?

I also slightly disagree with your take on Mourinho and the media. The media uses entirely different standards to judge him than to judge other managers. For example, Mourinho is expected to coach Bailly and Lindelof whereas Klopp is able to bin Klavan and Matip for Van Dijk without complaint. Mourinho's three fingers came after he analysed the game and the journalists said 'but you lost 3-0.' Yeah, sure, we did. However, his analysis was fine. He admitted the plan didn't work. However, if Lukaku had taken his chances it probably would've worked. So for them to be so dismissive and try and present him as clueless, I wasn't surprised he reminded them that he's a very successful coach and not the village idiot.

I slightly disagree with the idea that this was new for Mourinho. We press in select games. For example, at the Emirates last year we pressed high early on got two goals and then sat off and defended the lead.

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Cheers for the feedback mate. I mentioned early in the podcast that we do have these high-press games where we don't park the bus in big games under Mourinho semi-often - Arsenal last year, Liverpool until we were 2-0 up, Chelsea at OT in his 1st season.

In many ways Monday's match was a lot like the games we had in 2016/17. It may seem like ancient history for a lot of people but that season we had plenty of games where we had 20 something shots and went goaless. Was it Burnley (H) that season, the game where Ander got sent off and Zlatan had the bicycle kick saved, where we actually had more shots than anyone in recorded Premier League history and still drew 0-0?

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Perhaps, but that was Burnley and not Spurs, and we didn't make the mistakes at the other end to let them score 3 goals (and, in all honesty, they could have had more!!)

I also slightly disagree with your take on Mourinho and the media. The media uses entirely different standards to judge him than to judge other managers. For example, Mourinho is expected to coach Bailly and Lindelof whereas Klopp is able to bin Klavan and Matip for Van Dijk without complaint. Mourinho's three fingers came after he analysed the game and the journalists said 'but you lost 3-0.' Yeah, sure, we did. However, his analysis was fine. He admitted the plan didn't work. However, if Lukaku had taken his chances it probably would've worked. So for them to be so dismissive and try and present him as clueless, I wasn't surprised he reminded them that he's a very successful coach and not the village idiot.

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Hmm, mixed on this one. We mentioned that Mourinho was no longer the media darling that he was when he first arrived to England, and that the media treat him differently than others. Somewhat because he's not the shiny newcomer, he doesn't play as good football (sorry, but it does make him an easier target), and ultimately, because he gives it back & treats them with contempt. Plus, it's United, and people like to read about our failures - Fergie got similar treatment from some areas of the media but he managed it so much better.

But he does bring it on himself, not only with his negativity but his contradictions. This is a man who spoke about journalists as poets who would have him lose a game but play with style - and then complains post-match against Spurs that despite the loss they played well. He also called Wenger a 'specialist in failure' despite his premier league wins, but wants respect himself for 2 titles that came 13&14 years. On the point about Klopp and the centre backs - Klavan and Matip were both free transfers (or at least, very very cheap), so it wasn't like he had spent a lot of money on them so it's not quite the same. Plus, he got an absolute world of poor press for his inability to train a defense before he signed VVD.

I also think he uses the media to his advantage with obvious briefings (think Duncan Castles) so I have less sympathy when it is used against him. Whether that's trying to manipulate Woodward into buying defenders, or putting it out there that PSG want him whilst he is about to sign a contract, and that he is done with certain players and is happy for them to leave.

cheers for that so this time it was 3-2 away and then 3-0 at home - ironically thats the game that supposedly lead to Pogba leaving after Fergie went with a makeshift midfield rather than give him a go

I was going to join them this week but I had last minute IT issues while trying to get a new mic I got working I lost sound on my Mac and didn’t want to risk recording without knowing everything worked!

Think it’s unfair to pin the defeat on Lukaku’s composure, he should have scored but the team should have capitalised on our performance in the first half. I think if we had scored in the first half we would have won the game. Ultimately I think the score flattered Spurs really and we were unfortunate to lose based upon our performance.

Have to say though I think it might be time Mourinho goes. In the past he has never recovered from the kind of negativity he is currently generating and I’m not sure he can turn it around. It happened at. Chelsea, twice, and Madrid. The only clubs it hasn’t happened have been Inter and Porto, where he wasn’t manager long enough to really face any real difficulties.

In terms of players performance in the game, I agree Ballon D’Shaw played fantastically, he was only three goals away from my predicted hat trick last week. I also agree with you guys about Fred, he’s really impressed me so far; I think we’re going to be playing him as a Fletcher-type ball winning box to box player who also supports the attack.

Also, I can’t stand Hart. Glad to see him finally getting down to the level he should be at, he’s always been an incredibly overrated goalkeeper and his performance in 2012 European Championship when he spent more time trying to pull faces to put the Italians off than concentrating on where the pens might be going was pathetic.

I enjoy your podcasts guys, thanks for doing them. I download a few to listen to while commuting to work and yours is one of my favourites. I don’t have time to read/post on the caf very often so these help me keep up to date with general opinion etc.

I enjoy your podcasts guys, thanks for doing them. I download a few to listen to while commuting to work and yours is one of my favourites. I don’t have time to read/post on the caf very often so these help me keep up to date with general opinion etc.